[Osmf-talk] OSGeo Oceania Local Chapter application

Christoph Hormann chris_hormann at gmx.de
Wed Aug 12 11:38:44 UTC 2020


On Wednesday 12 August 2020, Edoardo Neerhut wrote:
>
>    - Ability to host sell out conferences with hundreds of people.
> This has generated substantial funds to support OSM efforts in the
> region. It would be a lot harder to organise this at a national
> level, particularly in countries with smaller populations and
> economies.
>    - Formal organisation that can support initiatives like the Travel
> Grant Program that Greg outlined and NZAID supported. This greatly
> increases the pool of funding that we can make available for people
> and initiatives throughout the region.
>    - Shared learnings. As Greg mentioned, there are significant
> population flows throughout the region. One of our conference
> volunteers for example is a Fijian native who has studied and worked
> in Australia, but has now returned to Fiji and is working there
> whilst also chairing the next regional conference. Having one
> organisation means these learnings can be shared across multiple
> countries and years. The solutions to problems that we solve can be
> shared rather than re-inventing the wheel each time. - Larger pool of
> volunteers to draw from which helps to prevent burnout.

But wouldn't all of that also be possible if the formal scope of the
local chapter did not extend to the areas of those activities?

The spatial scope of a local chapter does not limit its activities to
that scope, it only limits the extent over which the LC claims
representation.  Where is the need for the claim of representation?

In any case - i don't see how any of these benefits helps a local
community to build their own independent local chapter.  If at all i
see factors that could hamper it - like the dependency on external help
to get funding or to learn things hampering a local community in
building a local chapter able to sustain itself through local means.

--
Christoph Hormann
http://www.imagico.de/



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